Parting of friends

From Norton Junction on the Shropshire Union canal we continue our journey alone. Sue n Vic are taking a break from boating while their boat undergoes renovation. There is more to life for them at this time. A sense of purpose for us is to plan trips and meet friends and family during the summer months. The sun burnt off the early mist and boaters moved their boats in the morning sunshine. Spring is on its way.
As we continued on our way it seemed that every other bridge had a boat coming through. One occasion required a quick reaction to engage reverse. In doing so the prop picked up some rope and rag which had been thrown into the canal. The prop had no effect and the boat continued to drift forward. Thankfully the other boat had stopped in the bridge hole. Somehow we got our boat to the tow path and struggled to clear the prop.

We stopped at a bridge in order to check up on one of Sue’s Geo cache boxes. There before us was Valerie and Les called out a greeting. He had put the kettle on and stopped chopping up wood so we went on board for a chat. Thanks for that Les. 

It had taken us 10 days of moving to get from Ellesmere Port at the northern end to Autherley Junction at the southern end of the Shroppie. One of these days we will turn right onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.
We have been that way once but this time we turn left again going through the narrow rock cutting, round bends and under many low bridges. We were forced to lower our back cover many times before finally removing it all together. Several local hire boat companies are getting their fleets ready for the Easter rush, the first major holiday of the year. Gaily was choc a block and as we crawled through a gap we passed Epiphany with John and Fiona on board. After a chat in the lock we continued to Penkridge.